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BY MELINDA PETRE

In print | Published March 6, 2008

On Sunday, Swarthmore baseball lost a hard-fought season opener to Vassar College, 3-2 in 11 innings.

After a long February of preseason, the team was anxious to get outside. “We’ve been staring at the four walls inside the fieldhouse for the past few weeks with very few exceptions, so to get outside and run through our coverages and signs was a really good thing,” Ben Mendelson ’08 said.

The Garnet offense started out strong with runs in the first and second innings. “We didn’t really know what to expect against Vassar since they’re not in our conference and this is the first time we’ve played them, at least since I’ve been here,” Justin Chen ’08 said.

In the first, Thomas Nakamura ’10 ran home after a Vassar throwing error, putting the Garnet up 1-0.

The second Swarthmore run followed in the second inning, when Kevin Kooi ’09 belted an RBI single to left field, bringing Ben Schneiderman ’11 home. Mendelson led the team with two hits.

Neil Mejia ’11, who was pitching for Oak Park River Forest High School in Illinois at this time last year, gave Swarthmore a strong opening day performance on the mound, pitching for the first 5 1/3 innings. “I was so excited when I found out I was going to be the opening day starter. I knew I was just going to throw strikes and if they hit the ball I felt confident my defense would make the plays behind me,” Mejia said after striking out nine hitters in his first game ever for the Garnet.

Overall, it was a very impressive and successful debut. “Mejia showed incredible poise on the mound,” Coach Stan Exeter said.

Vassar scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the score 2-2, at which point Chen took over on the mound, helping Swarthmore thwart Vassar’s rally.

Vassar then took the lead in the top of the 11th inning, and Swarthmore could not answer in the bottom of the inning, sealing the Garnet’s opening day defeat, 3-2.

Ultimately, the team was hurt by its inability to muster an effective attack on offense. However, Exeter is not worried because “in the first few games of the year, usually the pitching is ahead of the hitting.”

Exeter said the team was disappointed to let a winnable game slip away, but added that “the overall attitude is very positive” about the team’s effort on Sunday and prospects moving forward.

Unfortunately, the second game in the scheduled doubleheader was cancelled due to lack of sunlight. “It’s a shame we didn’t get to the play the second game of the doubleheader because we would have beaten them and a bunch of our other pivotal freshmen [Andy Allen, James Beall and Adam Koshkin] were all slotted to get playing time,” Chen said.

To Mendelson, the key to the team’s success lies in its pitching staff. “If the staff can consistently do what they did on Sunday, we’ll be in good shape,” he said, noting that the team’s freshmen make up half of the rotation and an even larger portion of the bullpen.

The Garnet will look to “correct our mistakes from Sunday’s game and put together a complete game,” Chen said, as the season heats up. “I think we will play more relaxed and with more confidence,” Mejia said. The baseball team’s next game is today at Arcadia College at 3 p.m.

Over spring break, the Garnet will hold spring training, Swarthmore style, in Tampa, Fl., where they will play seven games.

“Florida’s a nice break from playing baseball in 45 degree weather. We’re definitely looking forward to going down there to work hard, compete and have some fun,” Mendelson said.

“My expectations for this year? Playoffs, if not more. We played with more heart on Sunday than any other Swarthmore baseball team has in the past four years, at least. We just have to execute, play our game and keep on keeping on,” Chen said.

This is emblematic of the new sense of optimism surrounding Swarthmore baseball.

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